August 2011

August 18, 2011

A "foodie" is person keenly interested in food, especially in eating or cooking, according to dictionary.com.

As I was driving around town the other day, the thought suddenly popped into my head: "I'm a foodie."

I love to eat fresh, local organic produce. I buy most of my food at food co-ops and farmers' markets because I think organic food is better for my health.

I have a small raised-bed organic garden, and this year I'm growing kale, yellow zucchini, green beans, carrots, tomatoes (maybe), cucumbers, and kohlrabi. In my patio garden, I have more tomatoes and herbs.

I support local, organic farmers. For the past several years, I've attend the Green Festival in Seattle and blogged about a variety of earth friendly speakers.

But my daughter says I'm not a foodie because I don't use many spices in my cooking, and I'm not that interested in seeking out the latest foodie-type restaurants.

Tonight, we stopped by a gelato store in Seattle, D’Ambrosio Gelateria, after dinner for a treat. It had exhibits on the wall explaining how gelato and ice cream differ.

The difference between gelato and ice cream is a combination of fat content, amount of air inside, and serving temperature. Gelato has a lower fat content, less air trapped inside, and is not served frozen compared to ice cream with the higher fat, more air, and frozen serving temperature.

In the United States, ice cream is required to have a minimum of 10 percent fat, and most ice creams contain 14 to 17 percent. Gelato has between 3 to 8 percent fat.

On air content, ice cream is usually about 50 percent air, while gelato, which is churned at a lower speed, has 25 to 30 percent.

And, the difference in temperature for the two; ice cream is stored and served frozen, while gelato is served not quite completely frozen, about 5 degrees.

Gelato was first made in Rome when snow was brought down from mountaintops and stored underground with flavorings. Ice cream was created later.

August 16, 2011

Five major worker health and safety rules, most of which were initially opposed by industry, have saved thousands of lives, prevented tens of thousands of injuries, and, in at least one case, improved productivity, a study reports.

The analysis of worker regulations by Public Citizen, a citizens’ advocacy organization, comes as corporate interests are expanding efforts to gut the federal regulatory system. They claim rules are burdensome and costly, but fail to acknowledge rules have benefits.

“Corporate interests love to bash regulations in the abstract, so it is important that we recognize the benefits that we – the public – enjoy from particular safeguards,” Justin Feldman, worker health and safety advocate with Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division, said in a statement. “These are rules that keep us healthy and keep our friends and family members alive.”

Regulations often yield tremendous advantages, sometimes at minimal costs to industry, Public Citizen’s analysis found. The worker health and safety rules covered in the report include:

• A rule requiring the cotton industry to reduce dust in textile factories lowered the prevalence of brown lung among industry employees by 97 percent in the first five years. In addition, when factories upgraded their equipment to comply with the rule, they found the new machines were seven times faster than the old ones. Also, compliance cost far less than originally anticipated.

• A rule requiring manufacturers to place locks and warning labels on powered equipment prevents 50,000 injuries and 120 fatalities each year.

• A rule on excavations at construction sites has reduced the fatality rate from cave-ins by 40 percent.

• A grain-handling facilities standard has reduced the number of fatalities caused by dust-related explosions by 95 percent. When the rule was being considered, industry groups and the Reagan administration opposed it. Years after the standard was issued, however, the National Grain and Feed Association said it is remarkably effective.

• A law instituting inspections in coal mines as well as new mine health and safety standards led to a rapid 50 percent decrease in the coal mine fatality rate.

Many corporate-backed GOP lawmakers in Congress are pushing to prevent federal health and safety agencies from being able to issue rules at all. Over the past few months, they’ve introduced several bills that would undermine the regulatory process or, in one case, place a moratorium on all new regulations.

“If anything, we need more public protections – not fewer” said Lisa Gilbert, deputy director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division. “The BP oil spill disaster, the Massey mine explosion, and the Wall Street crash were all caused by too little regulation of profit-hungry, corner-cutting corporations.”

August 14, 2011

Philips Lighting Co. is recalling about 1.86 million EnergySaver, also known as Marathon or Marathon Classic, Compact Fluorescent dimmable reflector lamps.

The glue that attaches the glass outer envelope or globe to the body of the lamp can fail allowing the glass outer envelope to fall and strike persons and objects below, posing a laceration hazard to consumers, Phillips and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement.

Philips has received 700 reports of lamps where the glue failed and the glass outer envelope fell, including two reports of minor injury and three reports of minor property damage.

The recall involves Philips EnergySaver, also known as Marathon and Marathon Classic, Compact Fluorescent dimmable reflector lamps, models R30, R40, and PAR 38 manufactured between March 2007 and May 2010. Click here to see the model and Universal Product Code numbers of the lamps included in the recall.

Model numbers are printed on the white ceramic area at the base of the lamps.

For products in boxes, the UPC number is on the bottom of the box.

For products in blister cards, the UPC is at the top right corner of the back of the package.

The affected products also have dates codes from March 2007 through May 2010. Date codes are located on the lamps themselves, either stamped into the metal gold base of the lamp or in the white ceramic area with other product information.

Manufactured in Mexico and Poland, the lamps were sold at grocery and home center stores nationwide, online retailers, and professional electrical distributors from March 2007 through July 2011, for $11 to $24.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled lamps and contact Philips to receive instructions on how to receive a free replacement lamp, the company and commission advise.

For additional information, contact Philips toll-free at 866-622-6372 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the company's website at www.recall.philips.com/en_us.html

Which consumer happenings cheered you this week and which ones made you want to scream or weep?

Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week:

My best: Finding a kid friendly restaurant in Seattle

When I wanted to go out to lunch with my sister, daughter, and grandchildren in Seattle, we debated what would be a kid friendly restaurant. I didn’t want to go to the pizza place where we’d celebrated my birthday. Some of the staff weren’t polite.

We picked the 5 Spot on Queen Anne Hill. It worked out well. The 5 Spot has a kids menu, and we had enough space so that we didn’t feel crowded. The atmosphere was lively, and the waitress pleasant.

My worst: Trying to find gluten free bread at QFC

When I walked into a QFC store, I was pleased to see a big sign touting QFC’s gluten free products.

I looked through the fresh bread section to see if they had some nice, locally baked bread. I couldn’t find any that was gluten free.

When I went to the checkout counter, I asked about the sign. The cashier said they had gluten free bread in the Natural Food section and Freezer area. Since I wasn’t familiar with the store, she showed me where to look.

The bread in the Natural Food section was made from 100 percent rice flour. It’s a brand I’ve had before; it’s not tasty.

In the Freezer section, the cashier pointed out a gluten free loaf with flax seed that she thought looked good. I read the label and rejected it because it contained sugar. I selected another brand, Food for Life’s that isn’t too bad. It’s called Rice Almond and is sweetened with fruit juice.

I don’t know why stores are putting up huge signs about their gluten free food when their offerings are so poor. I had a similar experience at Safeway when I was looking for gluten free muffins.

Maybe manufacturers are making the signs. More and more products are saying gluten free on them, such as tomato sauce, even though many of them are products that wouldn’t normally contain gluten anyway.

A friend of mine said she's been able to find good gluten free food. I'll ask her where she buys it.

Neal Blitz, M.D., chief of foot surgery at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, questions the appropriateness of young girls wearing high heels.

From a medical point of view, young girls wearing high heels and pointy-toed shoes is a concern because their bones are more malleable and can be structurally deformed as they grow, Blitz said in The Huffington Post article “How Young Is Too Young for High Heels?”

“Simply put, bone growth occurs from a cartilaginous precursor that becomes calcified and hardened,” he said in the article. “The softer growing bone can be deformed and misshapen by external forces, such as high heels. This is the physiology behind the Chinese foot binding.”

Until young girls stop growing, there is a significant risk to cause bone and joint deformations within the foot, Blitz said.

“From a purely bone-related standpoint, females reach skeletally maturity around age 14,” he said. “This does not mean that this the proper age for one to begin wearing high heels, nor am I indicating that high heel wearing is safe at all for young girls and adolescents. But parents should strongly consider avoiding shoe gear that can have a life-long impact on the foot prior to maturity of the foot.”

In his article, Blitz also reminded women of all ages that, even after skeletal maturity, the risk of developing foot problems from wearing high heels still exists.

August 09, 2011

Chefs, nutritionists, and food activists are inviting the nation’s restaurants to celebrate Food Day on October 24 by announcing improvements to menus and sourcing policies that advance health and the environment.

On Food Day, organized by Center for Science in the Public Interest, restaurants could begin buying more produce, meat, and eggs from local farms; adding more whole grains to breads and pastas; or collecting money for food banks, farmers markets, or other local organizations.

Chefs already participating in Food Day include Alice Waters, of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., Dan Barber of Blue Hill in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and early organics pioneer Nora Pouillon of Washington, D.C.’s Restaurant Nora.

“I’m excited that many restaurants are seizing the opportunity presented by Food Day and becoming part of a movement aimed at getting people to celebrate honest-to-goodness real food that comes from farms and not factories,” Michael F. Jacobson, CSPI executive director, said in a statement.

Restaurants could invite farmers to meet diners, plan special menus or events, or publicize Food Day via email and social media, Jacobson said. Some examples planned include:

A chain of vegan restaurants, Native Foods, will organize cooking demonstrations and tastings in its seven locations in California.

In Manhattan, the Italian market Eataly has started handing out Food Day materials and will bring in 20 farmers to talk to customers.

Food Day organizers in New Haven, Conn., are planning a Real Food Restaurant Week during which restaurants will offer special meals featuring local produce and healthier options.

Uncommon Ground restaurant in Chicago will offer a three-course Farm-to-Table prix fixe menu from October 16 to October 24.

Food Day is partnering with groups such as the Chefs Collaborative, American Culinary Federation, and Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture and is encouraging local restaurants to seek out partnerships with area hunger and sustainable-agriculture groups.

Besides restaurants, national organizations – such as the American Dietetic Association, American Public Health Association, Community Food Security Coalition, Earth Day Network, Farmers Market Coalition, Humane Society of the United States, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Prevention Institute, and Slow Food USA, along with many city- and state-level organizations – are planning on organizing or participating in Food Day events.

August 08, 2011

Environmental Working Group thinks the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s revised Chemical Data Reporting rule falls short in protecting consumers.

Senior scientist David Andrews issued the following statement about the proposed rule:

The fact that EPA does not annually track what chemicals are produced or imported in the United States is a serious failure of modern chemical policy. Basic chemical production and use information is necessary to assess risk to human health and the environment, and EPA has taken some steps in collecting more information.

However, the high reporting threshold and infrequent data collection leave EPA and the public with inadequate information to safeguard our children and the environment. Chemical companies provide quarterly reports on production and sales figures to shareholders. Why shouldn't the public and EPA receive similar reports every year about commonly used chemicals, some of which could pose a serious health risk?

August 07, 2011

The wooden step stools can break apart or collapse under the weight of the user, posing a fall hazard.

Target has received 26 reports of the stools breaking or collapsing, the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement. Fourteen incidents involved children, seven involved adults, and five incidents where the user’s age was unknown. Two adults fractured their wrists, and of those victims, one also fractured her hip and pelvis. In addition, six children and one adult suffered scrapes and bruising.

The wooden step stool has two steps and comes in a variety of colors, including natural, natural and red, white, and honey.

The Circo step stool has a lid on the bottom step that lifts to provide storage. The Do Your Room step stool has a lid on the top step that lifts to provide storage. The step stools measure approximately 13 inches high by 13 5/8 inches wide by 14 1/8 inches deep. The Circo brand name or DYR brand name and UPC numbers are printed on a label found underneath the step stool. Click here to see UPC numbers for the different style step stools.

Manufactured in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand, the step stools were sold only at Target stores nationwide and online at Target.com from January 2007 through October 2010 for $25 to $30.

Consumers should immediately stop using the step stools and return them to any Target store to receive a full refund, Target and the commission advise.